


Heaven's Time

by interdimensionalhitchhiker84



Series: Heaven's Time [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Mostly 10th Doctor, The Doctor is a fallen archangel, lots of angels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-22 08:18:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2500934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interdimensionalhitchhiker84/pseuds/interdimensionalhitchhiker84
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something tore heaven apart; nothing is clearer than that. But it wasn't some silly argument over humans that did it, rather the loss of the youngest archangel. However, in a traveling man with two hearts and a blue box, he is found again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Doctor Who, Supernatural, and DIAlecHotty's perfectly miraculous mind do not belong to me. Neither does the christian, islamic, or other religious lore that may have influenced the creation of Supernatural, their characters, or my Ocs.  
> Enjoy!

The seven of them were gathered around their father, eagerly anticipating the announcement they had been told would be forthcoming. Michael, Lucifer, Raphael, Phanuel, Zadkiel, Gabriel, and Horatiel. Michael, the eldest of the seven, was on the right hand of God, Lucifer on the left. Phanuel, Zadkiel, and Gabriel sat together and Horatiel, still very much a child, was snuggled happily into his older brother Raphael's side. The older angel wrapped his arm around Horatiel comfortingly.

  
When God finally spoke, smiling widely around at them, they all listened raptly.

  
“My sons, the eldest of you may know something of my latest project. None of you save Michael and Lucifer has seen my youngest creations yet, but on a planet I created, named Earth, a race of human beings is flourishing. Look.” He waved his hand lazily and allowed all of them to see the planet and its inhabitants.

  
All of them looked on curiously, but Horatiel gasped in unhidden wonder at the sight.

  
God smiled down at the youngest of the archangels as he continued. “This is my work and my glory: man. It is your job, my sons, to watch over and protect them at any cost. Be their guardians and protectors. Guide them along my chosen paths. Keep them safe, for they are the best of all my creations.”

  
Lucifer frowned deeply and Raphael, Phanuel, and Zadkiel looked confused. Horatiel was still just in awe of the little planet with its little people and continued to stare at it, eyes wide in amazement.

  
“You seven and the other angels will be there for them always.”

  
“But what of you, Father?” Lucifer asked. “Why must we care for them? If they are the greatest of all, why would you not take a personal hand in their development?”

  
God sent his second oldest son a harsh look. “I am tasking you with this. It is not for you to ask why.”

  
Lucifer crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, but did not speak again. Raphael nodded carefully. Michael nodded graciously and said, “Yes, Father. Of course we will do as you ask.” Phanuel and Zadkiel also nodded, though less enthusiastically than Michael. Gabriel looked back at the planet, then to God, and then to his brothers before making his move and agreeing as well. Horatiel reached out and touched the image that hovered in front of them. It began to spin faster and the lives of the people on it moved faster.

  
Carefully, but with a smile on his face, God took the small hand of his young angel and brought it away from the image. “Your powers are not fully developed yet, my son, but you shall be one of the most powerful some day.” Horatiel grinned. “Now go, my sons. Take up your roles. Inform your brothers and sisters. I will check in with you again soon.”

  
God flashed out of the room and they all looked at each other, most of them thinking the exact same thing. 'What is this about? What does he mean by “the best”? We must not be good enough...' Phanuel wiped a forming tear from his eye and Gabriel hugged him, hiding hurt of his own. Raphael looked around at all of them with contemplation and resignation written across his face and then took Horatiel's hand to lead him from the room.

  
~O~

  
Horatiel simply couldn't stand the curiosity. After seeing that planet, he simply had to know more. He had to understand them, be a part of them, learn everything he could. He simply couldn't get those precious little human beings out of his mind.

  
So, after making sure he was alone, young Horatiel tore his grace from his body and threw himself towards the beautiful little planet, the need to learn about them overwhelming any reasoning skills or inhibitions his still-developing mind might have had.

  
The young angel fell and fell, his grace spiraling off somewhere away from him, and fear began to make itself known as the young angel felt more vulnerable than he had ever been able to before.

  
He fell and he fell and he fell some more, the planet coming closer and closer and his heart beating rapidly.

  
Without any warning, a huge metal object hit him from his left side, throwing him completely off-course. He flew through space, graceless and alone, for what felt like years, screaming soundlessly, until he crashed down on a planet with two suns and red grass and silver sparkling leafy trees, three moons gracing the skies. A planet that was not his father's.

  
The poor young angel was scared half to death, but then he didn't have to worry anymore, because his memories were blocked from him and he became a member of the species that inhabited the planet he had finally fallen to. A planet called Gallifrey. Soon, he had friends and family who laughed with him and called him Thete. And then, just eight short years after his arrival, he looked deep into the time vortex and his eyes widened.

  
He recognized what he saw there—recognized the power of his father and the power he himself had held. He didn't recognize it in such a way that he knew what he was seeing, but it struck him deep to the core of his being and without even thinking, the boy turned away from it and ran. He ran as hard and as fast as he could and he never stopped running. He ran away from the planet eventually, ran into that vortex, and unknowingly, ran back to that planet he had originally been trying so hard to reach. Again and again he ran there and to other places as well, never staying in one place for long and never stopping running.

  
And now, as he ran, he called himself the Doctor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here, dear readers, is chapter two. I'm planning to try to update more than once a week, but I'm not sure how well I'll do on that. Comments would certainly help.  
> Enjoy!

Chapter 2

  
Gabriel was in a panic. He had been sent to collect Horatiel from wherever he'd wandered off to, but after looking everywhere he could think of, he still hadn't found his little brother. He'd asked Zadkiel and Jophiel and Raguel to help him and had asked all of the other angels he'd passed if they had seen him, but still, there had been no sign. That's why now, hands clenched anxiously by his sides, he was looking for Michael. Michael would be able to find him. He had to be able to.

  
It didn't take too long to locate the oldest angel, but the conversation was less than pleasant.

  
“You've lost our brother?”

  
Gabriel ducked his head in embarrassment and regret and nodded. “Yes, I'm sorry, Michael, but I've looked everywhere.”

  
“Yes, you said that. When and where was he last seen?”

  
Gabriel told him, as he had told so many other people through the day and Michael didn't look happy about it.

  
“You should have come to me sooner, Gabriel. Much sooner.”

  
Gabriel blinked hard. “I know,” he breathed.

A comforting hand came down on his shoulder and Gabriel looked up at Michael. “We'll find him.” Gabriel sniffed and looked up at Michael, catching a glimpse of a caring but worried face before the elder angel flashed away, leaving Gabriel alone again.

~O~

Over the next week, every inch of every planet God had created was searched. Heaven was turned upside-down and even Hell was given a thorough perusal, but still, Horatiel was not found. It was two months later, when Michael found Horatiel's grace nestled at the center of a glorious new rainforest several solar systems over from Earth, that God declared his youngest archangel dead.

Mourning overtook the angels and all of heaven was left in sadness and darkness. Most of the angels fell into mindlessly following orders and focusing solely on the work, but the archangels' reactions were varied.

Michael distanced himself from all of the other angels and simply followed orders fiercely. He fulfilled his responsibilities and became very inflexible when it came to others doing the same. He assumed that Horatiel's fall had been a direct result of lax regulations and wouldn't allow it to happen again if he could possibly prevent it.

Raphael became confused and found that he could no longer trust anybody. He also followed orders to the letter and became very withdrawn and closed-off from the others, but he did not separate himself from the others as much as Michael had. He wasn't sure why Horatiel had been lost and with no explanation or clear way to prevent its recurrence, he was left to only watch out for himself. He gave up his pastime of healing others except when ordered to do so and aligned himself with God and Michael in all appearances because it seemed that that was the winning side—the place that would offer the most protection.

Phanuel and Zadkiel were confused too, but unlike Michael and Raphael, they didn't close themselves off. Instead, they lashed out in anger, becoming great warriors for Heaven. Their lives were frequently in danger, but they defended their brothers and sisters and their Father's other creations fiercely.

Lucifer was angry. Furious, really. He, unlike the rest of the angels, blamed God and the humans for the tragedy that had occurred. Lashing out against God, he fought loudly and sometimes violently with Michael and their father. A war broke out in heaven because of Lucifer's actions. Most of the angels fought on the side of God to protect the humans down on Earth and try to prevent unnecessary loss of life, but a few joined Lucifer in his battle against God.

Phanuel and Zadkiel fought and were killed in this war along with dozens of other angels, all because Lucifer wanted to take control of Heaven. He just didn't trust his father to have their best interests at heart any more. However, not too long after the war began, it was abruptly ended by God throwing Lucifer down into the pit of Hell along with all those who had sided with him.

Immediately after this, with no warning, God left heaven behind, telling no one where he had gone.

Gabriel, unable to face the continued fighting and sadness and outrageous loss in heaven, and without his father to stop him, fled heaven. After several centuries of semi-isolation while still trying to fulfill his angel duties, it all became too much for him to handle and he shed his identity as an archangel. He hid completely from his brothers, joining the ring of pagans as the Trickster God.

With Michael and Raphael the only archangels left in heaven, they did their best to restore order, but it was centuries later when things were finally running smoothly again, and still, the angels were nothing like they used to be. They were obedient and they did God's work, but that was all. They used to be full of life, but refusing to embrace emotion was the only way the two eldest non-fallen angels knew how to handle things.

When new generations of angels came into existence, the fact that God was no longer in Heaven was hid from them. They weren't even informed that Horatiel had ever existed. Phanuel and Zadkiel were all but forgotten. This was all, of course, in the name of maintaining order and following God's last commandments.

_Protect the humans. Guide them down my paths and keep them safe. Watch over them. Be there for them, always._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are highly moticational and I would absolutely love to hear what you think, so please, leave me a comment.  
> Thank you for reading!  
> -MP


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Jaradiah wasn't sure what he should do with the information he had.   Obviously, he couldn't just ignore it, but oh, how he longed to.  This kind of sensitive information was much more important than the kind he liked to handle and quite frankly having his life on the line over a bunch or random blips wasn't his idea of a good time.  If it turned out he was wrong about what he was seeing, he could be executed, but if he was right, he could lose his life for not coming forward sooner.  It was an impossible and incredibly unpleasant situation for the secretarial angel.

For years, these little flares of unidentified angelic presence had been popping up all over his readouts.  First, it was just one little dot at the beginning creation of Earth.  No big deal, that.  It could have been anybody, considering the activity around the area.  Then it was a little dot popping up amongst the entirely unimpressive young humans.  Then it was the renaissance, then the Victorian period, the points growing closer together and more frequent over time.  Now though, it was in the early 1900s and the little dot was different somehow.  That wasn't the issue though, because after seeing the thing pop up over and over for centuries, he'd never been able to identify it, which meant, he could pass it off as nothing.  Now though, the little signal had been in one place for four whole days.  Four days, and after all of it's jumping around and disappearing, it was finally quite obvious what it was.  A human body with an angel presence—it was clearly one of the lost fallen.  And Jaradiah had to tell someone.  And even worse, he had to tell someone that he had absolutely no idea how it had disappeared for centuries at a time and explain why he couldn't identify it and didn't bring it to anyone's attention before now.

His last hope was that this little signal was the lost archangel Gabriel.  That would explain the disappearances since it was well known that Gabriel would only be on the sensors when he wanted to be, but unfortunately, a much more powerful signal had blipped up during several of these unusual dots of presence, which either meant that that one was Michael (being as he would be the only one that much more powerful than the younger archangel), or the smaller dot wasn't Gabriel at all.

When all was said and done, Jaradiah had no greater wish than that this little dot on his screens had never existed and that he had never been put into this situation.

He was though, and now he had to deal with it because he was currently standing just outside his superior's office.

~O~

It took nearly a month for news of the fallen angel in England to reach Raguel, but as soon as it did, he jumped at the chance to look at the readouts of what had shown up on the radar.  It took him two days to get access to the records and properly examine what was there, but he still couldn't quite decipher who the fallen angel might be, of all who had been lost.  Finally, the angel who had stepped up to the plate to fill in one of the gaps in the angel hierarchy quite early after the end of the war gave into his curiosity.  He found a suitable vessel and spent hours convincing them to allow him into their body.  Then, without wasting another second, he flew to his brother, nearly exploding from the desire to know which of the many it was.

When he appeared with a flutter of wings near a nearly abandoned hill, he saw a blue box fading from existence, a young boy waving at it.

Raguel didn't know what to think of the strange occurrence, but it didn't matter anyway because he wasn't given the chance to think, the fading presence of the fallen angel overpowering his senses.  It was Horatiel.  It couldn't be anyone else.

Raguel ran towards the presence—towards his brother—but by the time he took a step, it was only a lingering memory.  His brother was gone.

~O~

As much as Raguel wanted to tell someone, he could not.  He didn't know where to find his brother again and he knew that he would only cause anger amongst the elders of heaven if he brought up the lost youngest archangel.  So, Raguel kept his mouth shut, and when, on his return home, he was informed that the signal had changed back to its previous form before disappearing again, he gave no comment other than to make sure that signal was watched.

If that little dot was ever seen again, not a second could be wasted in alerting him.

Still, it was centuries later before the signal could be locked onto again.  Because without being in a human body (although the secretarial angels could never know this) the signal was distorted and nearly blocked. 

When it showed up in the sky over the UK in the year 2007, it took over nine months for Raguel and his small group of secretarial siblings to find a way to get to him.  And this time, everyone had to be informed.

~O~

“What do you mean, Horatiel has been found?  Our brother is dead.” Michael was not amused by the news Raguel was delivering all over heaven and the fact that he was hearing about it through one of the lesser angels instead of directly from the source of the information had him fuming.  Obviously, all of this was an elaborate lie, but for the life of him, he couldn't understand why.

The young angel looked terrified by Michael's anger and the eldest of heaven sent him away with a huff and a growl before summoning Raguel to him.

His younger brother, who had stepped up after the war to help fill in and carry some of the duties of an archangel, was at his door in a number of minutes, looking both excited and nervous.

“Brother, Michael, I didn't think you'd see me!  You see so few these days.  Horatiel has been located, Michael.”

“I have heard, Raguel.  What I do not understand, is why you are spreading such ridiculous propaganda.  These kinds of lies serve no purpose.”

“I understand how you must feel, Michael, but these are not lies.  Here!”  He pulled a tablet from his robes and showed the blinking dot to his brother.  “Right there, see!  It is him!” 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have forgotten to upload the rest of the chapters of this, whoops. This is where comments would've come in helpful, guys.

**Chapter 4**

Nearly three more months and Michael had successfully calmed down the masses in heaven, restoring order.  Bringing home an archangel was simply not something that could be rushed into and the less fuss surrounding the incident, the better.  Also, reconnaissance and observation was necessary before attempting a task of this magnitude. 

So, with heaven finally calm and distracted by other events, Raphael was sent down to make contact, him being the only one able to find a vessel on such short notice and who was loyal and powerful enough to be trusted with the task.

O

Raphael was filled with more emotion than he had allowed himself to experience in centuries as he made his way to the flying contraption the humans had created.  He could feel his younger brother's presence now, grace or no grace, and it was warming and exciting and comforting and terrifying all at once.  All he wanted to do was fly straight in and grab his baby brother, but he knew it was better to follow the plan.

A girl his brother knew was running around Earth telling people to think one word at one time.  A prayer.  Hah.  Even a mass-prayer wouldn't do much good for Horatiel when they weren't using his proper name and he didn't have his grace to channel the energy.  It was a perfect mask though.  Horatiel was being held prisoner and if Raphael waited until he enacted his escape plan to bust him out, nobody would suspect angel involvement because they would simply believe that Horatiel's idiot idea had worked.

Raphael landed in an abandoned corridor, silently making himself and his vessel invisible, and walked slowly towards the large room where his brother was being held.

When he caught sight of the youngest archangel, locked in a cage and shriveled with age, he couldn't help but shudder.  This was absolutely not how he would have liked to see his brother after millenia of being apart.

He nearly let out a sob right there, but he somehow managed to wait in silence.  He couldn't afford to screw this up.

But then rage overtook sadness.  His brother was within reach, but... well...

Raphael left with a flutter of wings, screaming to Michael via the network of their interlocking minds.  “The prophet is in danger!  Michael, do not lose this chance to save him.  Get him yourself if you need to!  Brother!”

Michael mentally shushed him and Raphael cut off his frenzied yelling to smite some demon ass, anger at being there instead of with Horatiel fueling his actions, rather than any actual desire to protect Chuck.

~O~

Michael didn't know what to do.  At Raphael's call to duty, he had immediately taken his younger brother's place on the ship, shielding the inhabitants from his grace, but unable to do anything while in his current state.  He needed a vessel.  That wouldn't happen though, and it was too late to even consider trying to find another angel to do this.  It was all on him now and the window for action was rapidly closing.  From where he was shielded in the corner of the room, Michael could feel the power of prayer starting to gather.

Even as he felt it though, he knew that it was a hopeless endeavor. 

Pushing his father's instructions aside for the first time since God had left, Michael let his presence be known and jumped into the center of the room, lovingly grabbing his brother in a warm embrace as he ripped apart the prison.

In a blink of an eye, a flap of wings, and a flash of horrified, pained screams, the pair of angels were in heaven again.  Michael held the fragile old alien in his arms, wondering at how his brother had obtained such a body, and called out to Raphael.  As the only one with healing powers strong enough to effectively heal large damage amongst angels, it was imperative that he hurry in his task to protect the prophet.

The hundreds of blinded and handful of dead humans was of no concern to Michael when his unconscious little brother was in his arms.  And one thought stood out above all the rest in his troubled, racing mind.

_How could one who was still so very, very young, look so old?_

Horatiel was still a child and should never have been put through this.

O

Raphael smote his last demon, glared fiercely at the prophet for causing this mess, even if it wasn't technically his fault, and flew back to heaven.  He fell to his knees beside the bed Michael had placed Horatiel on and summoned up healing powers he hadn't used with any feeling since the war. 

Slowly, Horatiel's body was returned to it's former state of relative youth, his wounds were healed, and he woke. 

“Hello, I'm the Doctor.”  He coughed gently and looked around a bit.  “Who are you?”

Raphael did sob then.  His brother didn't even recognize them.  Michael placed his hand on Raphael's shoulder though, and pulled a glass vial from his pocket. 

“This is your grace, my brother.  I collected it when you first fell and now you have finally returned home.”  He pulled the stopper from the vial and forced it towards Horatiel, the grace reuniting with him quickly in an explosion of energy that shook heaven and stopped time.

Horatiel collapsed back onto the bed, his newly regrown wings shinning behind him.  “I'm... in heaven?” he asked.  “Michael?”

Michael reached forward and grasped his hand, squeezing tightly. 

“Raphael?”

Raphael did as his older brother had done.

“But... where's Dad?  Where are the others?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Michael looked away ashamedly.  “I'm so sorry, Horatiel.”

“What do you mean, sorry?”

“It's only us left, Horatiel.  It's been so long since you left and... events transpired...”

“Even-- Even Dad?”

Raphael nodded as Michael determinately kept looking at the floor.

Horatiel began to cry, sliding off of the bed he'd been placed on and into Raphael's arms to hug his brother tightly.  “H-how- Tell me- h-how th-they-  w-what h-happ-penned?”

And so Michael gave him a shortened version of the tale, all the while, refusing to meet the young angel's eyes.  “When you fell, Horatiel, we couldn't stand it.  We looked and looked for you and you were nowhere.  We all went mad with grief.  Lucifer blamed Father and the humans and many of the lesser angels sided with him.  It started a war, my brother.  Raguel and Zadkiel were lost and Lucifer was thrust down into hell.  Father left then.  Left heaven to us to run while he went away somewhere, and Gabriel couldn't stand it anymore and he ran.  We haven't been able to find most of those who left us after the war.”

“But you, Horatiel—we found you!” Raphael said into Horatiel's hair.

The young archangel hugged his brother tighter before shoving away and forcing himself to stand up, anger flashing in his eyes.  “How could you!?  How could you let Lucifer be thrown into hell?”  He let out a harsh sob, bringing a hand up to his face to only partially muffle it, and then continued much more quietly.  “How could you let our family be torn apart?”  With a final quiet sob and a flap of wings, Horatiel was gone before either of the older angels could stop him.

~O~

Horatiel, God's Time, couldn't begin to comprehend his family ripping itself apart like his brothers had said it had, but just because something isn't understood, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.  So, the youngest archangel set off in search of his family, not wasting a second. 

Time waves ripples around in his wake as he flew, the elderly miraculously becoming young again and caterpillars growing into butterflies in seconds.  Cookies were burnt before they went into the oven and cooked meals were suddenly replaced with live animals and seeds.  Horatiel didn't even notice.  Sure, he'd been around time manipulation all his life, but controlling things with his grace was so much different and he simply didn't know how to use these powers.

It took very little time for him to locate the one of his brothers he knew where was and in a flash, he landed next to the pit.  He tried to get inside, but banged up against the seals.  Without even thinking, he lashed out in anger at them, and, unbeknownst to him, time sped up, just around the seals themselves, breaking them before they were broken in the outside world.

He let himself fall down and down and down until he landed in a crumpled heap next to his screaming, tortured brother.  “Lucifer,” he gasped out.  And suddenly, the elder angel was against the other wall. 

“It can't be you.  It can't.  This is... some new kind of torture.  IT WON'T WORK!!!  You hear me, Dad!?  It wON'T WORK!!”

Horatiel dragged himself up off the rocky, fiery ground, and slowly approached the other.  With hands held out reassuringly in front of him, he said, “Oh brother, what have they done to you?  Luc... It's me.  It's really me.  I found my way home, but you... How could they do this!?”

Overcome with emotion, Horatiel threw himself against Lucifer in a shaking, sobbing, wet hug.

O

What seemed like hours later, he dragged himself away from the slightly insane, unstable, and terrified mess that was his brother.  “I'll be back, Luc.  Here, let me get you somewhere safe, and I'll be back.  I just need to find Gabriel and Father.  I'll be back.”  He left Lucifer in a cave in an area of mountainous woods and flew away to find Gabriel.

It took longer than he had hoped, but when he did find his brother, he flashed in immediately.  Seeing Gabriel surrounded by five naked women and no less than four chocolate fountains was something he only wished he could scrub from his mind, but thankfully, the second he flashed in, Gabriel flashed them out again, to somewhere much less likely to induce bleeding from the eyes.

Gabriel took a tight hold of the frozen with horror Horatiel's shoulders and looked intently into his face.  “Horatiel?” he whispered, “Hor, is that you?”

He nodded, looking into Gabriel's face, finally.  “It took a while to find you.”  He smiled a bit then.  “I once saw Jack in a situation very similar to that one.  Is it really so enjoyable, because it looks awful.”

Gabriel laughed, a tear sliding down one cheek.  “It's an acquired taste, dear brother.  Now, _what happened?_ ”

“Being God's time wasn't enough, I guess.  I became a Lord of Time.”

Gabriel looked puzzled.  Horatiel giggled.

~O~

Horatiel looked for their father, but when he found nothing, he forced himself to not be too discouraged and simply took the two brothers he had found back up to heaven with him.

After much hugging, some celebrating, lots of tears, a long history lesson on all of what had happened in heaven ever and what had happened to the individual angels, Horatiel finally told his story—the story of a misfit and a rebel who had become a madman in a blue box.

Then, Horatiel, with the help of the brothers he might never let out of his sight again—he was only a bit over 2,000 after all, and a kid needs a stable home—began to learn how to master his powers. It was a lot more work than any of the older angels had ever made it look like when he had been so much younger.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

“You started a war, Lucifer!”

“For a good reason!”

“Our siblings were killed!  Slaughtered by your hand!  There is no good reason for that!  None!”

Lucifer was silent for a long second.  “Maybe so, Michael, but we all thought that Horatiel had been killed too, and yet you continued to support all the things that had allowed that to happen!”

The whispered argument that Horatiel nearly walked in on hurt him.  They’d spoken about the war and he had obviously noticed that his brothers weren’t very pleased with each other, but he didn’t realize that they hated each other this much.

Perhaps leaving Lucifer locked up in hell should have been a clue.

Taking a deep breath, and doing his best to turn his pain into anger that would give, rather than take strength, he stepped around the corner.

“How could you?”

The two eldest angels turned to look at him, both looking flushed and angry, but also slightly guilty, probably at being caught.

“How could you possibly believe that it’s okay for you to be fighting?  It’s not okay!  Lucifer, obviously starting a war was the wrong way to react, but Michael, _you should have listened_!  How can you hate each other so much?  How?  We used to be a family!”

“We still are a family—“

“Then why don’t you act like it?” Horatiel cut Michael off. 

“Luc, what’s going on?  Why are you still so angry?”

Lucifer ducked his head to look at the floor, closing his eyes for a moment.

The silence stretched on, until a voice from behind them said, “It was our fault.”

The three turned to look at Gabriel and he continued, looking as guilty as Lucifer.  “It was our fault that you were gone and none of us knew how to handle it.”  He sobbed, hugging himself, and trying not to let tears escape.  “It was all our fault, but we didn’t want it to be and we turned against each other and we just didn’t know what to do!”

Horatiel launched himself at his brother, hugging him tightly.  “Gabriel, it wasn’t your fault!  It wasn’t any of your faults!  I left.  I chose to leave!”

“And so did Dad.  How could we possibly react to that except to assume that he blamed us as much as we blamed ourselves?”  Gabriel was crying too hard to say anything now, but Lucifer said what he was also thinking—what all of the elder archangels had thought.

“No, no, no! None of you should be blaming yourselves!  I won’t allow it!”  He hugged Gabriel tighter, not letting his brother go.  “I can’t be without you.  I don’t want to be and I can’t let you keep hurting and fighting like this!  I just can’t!”

O

As soon as he got a chance to speak to Raphael, Horatiel told him the same thing he had told the others.  “I love you, Raphael.  It wasn’t your fault and you can’t blame yourself and I don’t want you to be mad at yourself or anyone else for my mistake.”  He said it all very quickly, with his arms tight around his brother, and all the angel could do was nod.

O

Developing and learning control of angelic powers was hard.  Time energy came naturally to Horatiel, and it only took a few days to figure out how not to cause wild fluctuations in the time steam by his very presence.  And flying wasn’t difficult in the slightest.  But actively using his control over time to effect things the way he wanted to?  Almost impossible.  And learning how to smite wasn’t easy either. 

His brothers’ efforts to teach him resulted in thousands of stunned and confused demons who were horrified at coming into contact with an unidentified archangel, only to not be killed by him and then be attacked from another angle by a second, more powerful archangel.  It was a miracle of sorts that some of them didn’t die from pure shock at the encounter.  Several ancient monuments, such as the great pyramids, were accidently aged additional centuries before Horatiel managed to undo the damage and reverse the aging process to restore some of their former glory as he had originally intended.

After months of tiring work though, Horatiel was ready for action.

O

As much as he wanted to, and no matter how he tried, several times over, to leave the comfort and safety of heaven so he could start to repair the damage he had caused, he simply couldn’t.

He knew it was selfish and terrible of him, but he just couldn’t bear to leave his family for a moment.  Horatiel spent his time walking amongst the younger and less powerful angels, hearing their stories and telling them his—tales of world they had never heard of.  They didn’t always believe the stories he told, but just being able to acknowledge to himself that those things had actually happened was an oddly reassuring feeling.  And knowing that life had gone on while he was away living a different life, although saddening, was also very nice.  Hearing that his family had been happy despite his mistake was something that he simply needed to hear.

And so, despite knowing that every second he tarried in heaven made his job of fixing events that much more difficult, he stayed. 

O

And when he finally was able to leave heaven, he still couldn’t face his own problems, preferring to walk Earth’s surface with Raphael, watching his brother use the powers of healing that he had shut away for so long, and enjoying the look of joy that would come across the older angel’s face when a person was cured of their ailments.

“Raphael?”

“Yes?”

Horatiel kept walking alongside his brother, through a path in a city part.  “I think it’s because of you that I… chose the name I did.”

“What do you mean?”

“I love all of you so much, and I know that I spend lots of time with Gabriel, maybe more than I do with any of the rest of you, but you… I’ve always looked up to you.  Maybe even more than any of the others.”  He could feel himself blushing.

Raphael had stopped in his tracks?  “You… why?”

“The way you get so much joy from improving the lives of others… you’re happy when others are happy.  It’s amazing.  Even when I didn’t remember you, I wanted to be like that.  The Doctor.  I could have chosen anything, but I just wanted to help people.”

They continued walking in silence then, Raphael too stunned to know how to respond.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Finally, the time had come.  He swallowed, his wings tightening around his body reflexively as he stared at the ground, hands in his pockets.  “I’ve got to go.”

Gabriel looked at his brother in absolute shock, his mouth agape.  “No…”

Horatiel nodded.  “I’ve got to.  People depend on me.  I remember this now, but I’m not sure it’s really me.  I… That… The Doctor.  That’s who I am now.  I’ve got to carry on.  At least for a bit. Figure things out on my own.”

“No, no, no...” He took a shaky step forward.  “You can’t.  You just can’t, Hor!  We’ve only just got you back!”

“But I can’t not!” He looked away again, unable to fully meet his brother’s eyes any longer.  “Please, don’t tell the others until I’m gone.  I… I can’t face them too.”

Gabriel was on him faster than he could think in a bone-breaking, smothering hug.  “Please don’t,” Gabriel whispered.

Horatiel could feel the tears through the mental bond.  Gabriel wasn’t actively crying, but he was inside.  With a grimace and a choked back sob, Horatiel pulled himself away and was gone with a flap of wings before Gabriel could make any more efforts to stop him.

~o~

Horatiel flew back through time, landing lightly at exactly the point he had left.  Slowly, putting on a show, he allowed bits of his grace to flow into the visible spectrum, letting them swirl around the illusion of age he’d created.  Soon, with wing beats barely audible over the other sounds, he was back in his usual vessel’s form and flying slowly towards the Master--his old friend turned deadly enemy.  “Tell me the human race is degenerate now,” he said, “when they can do this.”  He ached with the feelings of betrayal.  He should be crediting this properly.  But he needed to follow through.  Pretend it had gone according to plan.  It was a plan that probably wouldn’t have worked, but it was important that he maintain the illusion. 

“I’m sorry,” he said as the Master screamed and shot at him.  “I’m so sorry.”  And he meant it.  He was sorry.  For a lot of things.  “And you know what happens now,” he continued, ignoring the Master’s shouts and barely even registering the effort of throwing away the weapon.  “You wouldn’t listen because you know what I’m going to say.”  He reigned in his grace and put his arms around his sobbing friend.  “I forgive you.”

Jack and the others went to contain the paradox machine and then the Master had teleported them to a field of missiles.

“If I can’t have this world, Doctor, then neither can you.  We will stand upon this Earth together as it burns.”

The Doctor looked around anxiously.  He wasn’t ready for this.  Wasn’t old enough.  Wasn’t experienced enough.  But what he was would have to do.  “Weapon after weapon after weapon.  All you do is talk and talk and talk, but over all these years and all these disasters, I’ve always had the greatest secret of them all—I know you.  Explode those ships, you kill yourself.  That’s the one thing you can never do.  Give that to me.”

He grabbed the Master’s hand and flew them back to the ship.  He shouted for everyone to get down and gently combined his power with that of the failing paradox machine and re-emerging TARDIS to safely rewind time.  He reversed the whole year.  Like it had never happened.  He rambled on as he worked through things in his mind.  His brothers couldn’t get to him here.  None of them could jump through time.  Father could, but…

And then the humans wanted to execute the Master.  It was no wonder some of the angels had doubted them. 

“No!  That’s not the solution.  You’re my responsibility from now on—the only Time Lord left in existence.”  He really was the only one left, now that the Doctor had remembered who he was as Horatiel.  And the Doctor was willing to sacrifice everything to keep him safe. 

But when the Master was shot, everything changed all over again.  He held his friend in his arms and screamed into the hive mind he should be a part of.  He screamed for Raphael to come, to help.  But he knew that the angels wouldn’t—couldn’t—come.  Not with all the time disturbance.  They couldn’t do anything.  They couldn’t hear him because they didn’t know he existed.  He hadn’t technically gotten his grace back yet.

So he burned the body.  And he tried not to look back.  But he couldn’t not.  He left a note in the cage that would be sent up to heaven when it opened in the original timeline.  A note that begged his brothers to find the Master’s soul and make sure it reached heaven.  Because the Master deserved that.  Everyone deserved that.

O

“I’ll see you again, Mister.”  Martha smiled and then left, and Horatiel slumped against the console of the machine that had been his home for so many years.  He thought hard about everything.  He wanted to go home, but at the same time, this daft little box was his home.  And no matter what heaven might hold for him, he couldn’t leave it.  He wasn’t done living this life yet. 

The young angel breathed deeply, closing his eyes and reveling in the feeling of being able to spread his wings.  And then he sighed and took the watch out of his pocket.  He had to do this.  It was for the best.  It was for the absolute best.  He had to finish living this out before he could go back to his brothers.  The universe needed him.  He only hoped Raphael would be proud.  And that he would keep that spark he’d gained back.

He stared at the beautiful engravings on the golden surface of the casing, nearly getting lost in the patterns.

With the very last scrap of determination he had, Haratiel opened the watch and let go of his grace, forcing it into the container. 

It hurt.  It hurt like nothing else in the world and he almost stopped, but then it was over.  His wings were gone and he was a Time Lord again.  Not an angel.  An angel of the Lord had no business flying around space in a little blue box.

He wiped the tears from his face and breathed, listening to the beating of his own hearts.  “I’ll come back,” he whispered.  “This isn’t forever.  Please, don’t fall apart.”  And with that, he turned and set his ship to fly again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I know that the chapter was short, but it is what it is. Please leave a comment to tell me what you think!  
> Thanks for reading!  
> -MP


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